


Purgatory High School

by Vf_Blitz



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Conflict, Drama, F/M, Humor, M/M, Multiple Relationships, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-08 09:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vf_Blitz/pseuds/Vf_Blitz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Purgatory High School. A place where all races come around to learn from this single place and learn how to live peacefully with one another. That is if you can ignore all the stupid people who act like they control the place. People who feed off of the scraps from all the power struggles, and all the gangs. Shepard and his little brother are going to have a rough time, but this is nothing compared to their past. Hopefully Normandy St doesn't have anybody they hate on it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for not putting anything new up recently. My laptop died and I had to get a new one, but it took awhile. I will try to get back into the routine and bring new chapters soon.

Welcome to…

The name’s Jax, Jaxarious Shepard if you prefer the full name, but if you were expecting Shepard you are horribly mistaken. Well not entirely. My older more _brooding_ brother could care less for telling his tale, or any bit of him for any fact. We’re opposites. He’s direct, hot headed, and very blunt, but highly precise with a gun. Surprisingly. Also strong, but that’s pretty obvious from his mean look on his face that is _always_ present. I think he probably would make it to the N7 program if he wanted to. I'm the other side of the coin. I look for alternative options and open minded. I’m smart, but no Einstein.  Like I said before, I’m the shadow of my older brother.

Anyway we have a bit of a tragic back story, but I’ll save that for another time. Just know that we were adopted by our foster parents, whose names are David Anderson and Kahlee Sanders, but I always wonder why they aren’t, or haven’t, married. A married couple takes only one last name if I remember correctly. Anderson was married before, but his past is still a bit hazy to me currently. They’re both nice to us despite our trouble. Shepard, he goes by his last name because he despises his first name, tends to pick up fights with other kids. Most of the time it’s because said kids pick and bully me. Probably because I’m smaller than a Quarian. Sad I know, but that’s my life.

Currently we’re moving for about the sixth or seventh time to a new home. Half of the time it's for work. Other half is because parents complain of how their kids keep getting beat up. If only they knew why. Although this time Anderson called in a favor from an old family friend to ‘modify’ our school record so we can be like new people. He also told us if we got expelled one more time he’d send us to military school. It’s a difficult life for a teenager like me, right? Just a sophomore in high school and my life is twisted far enough to snap, but I have no idea what’s about to come next. I’ll pop in every now and then to tell my side of the story, but for now just observe the lives of the Shepards.

~/~

“Jax, we’re almost there. Try to stay awake.”  Anderson’s voice is heard throughout the car. Kahlee reacts slightly to it and rubs her eyes. Jax doesn’t flinch or respond just yet. He simply stares out his window as a new landscape emerges. The _Welcome to Vancouver_ sigh appears then vanishes as the car’s headlights pass it. He gives a small sigh before finally speaking.

“I’ve been awake.” His voice is strained from restless nights and the exhaustion that has been weighing him down from the long ride.

“What about Shepard?” Kahlee speaks this time and compared to Anderson’s voice it’d be like comparing a brick to silk. Anderson’s voice is loud and rough mainly because he fits the Alliance profile of an Admiral, which he is. Kahlee is also in the Alliance, but her voice is quieter and smooth. That is until someone makes her angry. Also Shepard is passed out with his head covered by his hood and face leaning on the window. Jax rolls his eyes at the sight of his goofy-looking stone faced brother and flicks his head, but gets no response.

“He’s out cold. We’ve all been awake for awhile now.” He shakes his brother slightly only to get a low grunt. He stops and resumes examining the environment.

“Excited for your new home?” Jax doesn’t reply to Kahlee. That was the same question she asked last time and quickly recognizes her mistake. It remains quiet for the rest of the trip until the car makes a turn onto Normandy St. where expensive houses line up distant from each other. Their house number is D24. Anderson parks in the driveway and lets out an exhausted sigh.

“Maybe sleeping in the car doesn’t sound so bad.”

“I told you we should have stayed at that motel, David.”

“Next time we go on a long trip like this I’ll be sure to listen.” He adjusts his seat slightly to get comfortable and no interfere with Jax’s comfort behind him. Kahlee looks at Jax from her side mirror before giving a worried expression. Even in the dim moonlight she can see still the fading black eye. She also adjusts herself before going back to sleep. However, Jax doesn’t sleep. He just stares out his window at the new neighborhood. After awhile when everyone is in their deep sleep he gets out of the car.

~/~

I guess I have some explaining to do don’t I? I’m prey. I’m prey for Krogan, Turians, Humans, hell even Asari! I get picked on and bullied and Shepard has to be my personal body guard. I don’t know why he’s so protective with me. I guess that’s how older brothers are when their siblings are in trouble. I try to stand up for myself, but it’s difficult when you’re getting kicked to the ground and punched in the ribs. That’s how I got my black eye recently.

Last place we were was full of moron and idiots trying to pick a fight with anyone. Shepard managed to be on his best behavior until that one day. I was just going home when a group of jocks were using me as easy prey. I got beat up and didn’t return until late at night. The next day the same jocks got humiliated by Shepard. They video recorded beating me up, bragged about it online, even told their friends. However, the school deemed it too violent for Shep to pick fights with other students and he got expelled. Needless to say I lashed out at the principal which got me expelled. The stupid bullies only got a suspension. Bloody idiots if you ask me.

This may be the year 2183, but schools are still messed up. Possibly even more since the turn of the twenty first century.  Anyway that’s the sad pitiful story Well my sad pitiful childhood. Honestly I’m glad Shep beat up the bastards. Just wish he didn’t have to pay a price for it.

~/~

The next morning is Saturday. Shepard and Jax start school Monday which gives them time to explore around and help unpack. However, the car is empty of boxes. Kahlee wakes up first and begins to investigate and finds a surprise inside. Jax had moved all the personal belongings from the car into the living room, kitchen, and dining room. He also passes out on the couch which came with the house along with most of the furniture. She looks in the fridge to find it fully stocked and decides to begin cooking breakfast. Anderson wakes up next and immediately goes inside finding Jax and Kahlee.

“Did he move everything from the car?”

“Yes, but I’m sure he did it manually.”

“Well I still-”

“David, let him sleep!” Kahlee snaps suddenly at Anderson. With some hesitation he nods in agreement and goes over to the kitchen. He unpacks some plates, cups, and utensils and puts the rest in the drawers and cabinets. The two begin talking about work in the Alliance since they both are military parents after all.

~/~

In the car Shepard stretches and finds he’s all alone. Sitting up his long hair covers his eyes partially and his arms extend out to stretch. He lifts his backpack from under his feet and opens the big pocket. After feeling the familiar metallic object he pauses for a second before closing the pocket and leaving the car. However, when he steps out he finds a furry canine panting and staring right at him.

“A… German Shepard. How ironic.” The dog barks with energy and begs for attention. Head lowered and tail waging back and forth high in the air. Shepard shoos the canine, but it only makes it persist even more for attention. Finally he groans and gives in. Kneeling down on one knee he pets the dog under the chin and behind the ears. When reaching for the collar he sees the dog’s name. “Harmony? Is it?” The dog barks again and moves back and forth quickly before returning to Shepard for more attention. “Funny considering you’re a nosy mutt.” Harmony growls slightly, but is stopped by some more ear scratching.

“Harmony! Here girl!” Someone call for Harmony and she instantly reacts by darting in the direction of the source. Shepard smiles before fading back to his average emotionless self. He decides to go inside and investigate the new home.

Inside Jax has subconsciously moved from on top of boxes to the floor. Anderson and Sanders don’t do anything to him besides placing a blanket over him. Shepard enters with a raised eyebrow as he looks through room by room.

“Shepard, breakfast is ready. Would you mind waking up Jax?” No verbal reply, but there is a visible nod to show he’ll do it. He moves over his brother and kneels down. One finger extended he begins to dig it down into Jax’s forehead until he reacts. He does, but merely swats at Shepard before shifting and using the blanket as a cocoon.

“Wake up. Breakfast.”

“Go away.”

“Jax, you need to eat.”

“Sleep first.”

“You can go back to sleep after eating.” The young brother groans and sits up, blanket still wrapped around him like a cocoon. He thrashes lazily until his head is free. Sea green eyes stare at Shepard’s crystal blue eyes. Jax’s hair is also standing up on one side while the other is flat. There is a stare down between the two before Shepard pushes his finger once again on Jax’s forehead.

“Come on and eat, idiot.”

~/~

Neighbors caught wind of the news. A new family has moved into the old home, which hasn’t been used for a long time by anyone. Like always in a neighborhood the next door families were wondering who they were and decided to spy on them from time to time. Or this could possibly because of the student’s reputation at the high school have now affected their parents. Except one family wasn’t suspicious.

“Did you hear about the new neighbors? They arrived late at night.” A woman speaks at one end of the long table. It is neatly decorated with flowers and silverware, but less than a fourth of it is even in use.

“An Alliance man and woman from the looks of it. Not sure what to think of the kids. One was doing something last night.” A well built man sits on the opposite end of his wife. Dressed in a nice suit to represent he’s a person of high stature.

“Fredric, I’m sure they’re much nicer than most rapscallions here.” The wife looks to her left to see her husband through all the decorations and sees her son as well. He’s in the middle wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, added with neatly combed hair. He gives no eye contact to either as he simply eats his breakfast. “Right, honey?”

“Hm… at least we have more Alliance officials.” The son listens to his parents go from talking about the new family to business and then politics. He manages to finish his food before the political conversation could last a full minute. Like always he excuses himself and takes his dishes to be cleaned. As he’s cleaning a bark is heard outside. Cleaning his hand and darting off he swears to himself about how his dog managed to find a way out of the backyard.

When coming out back and going towards the source he’s surprised by what he sees. Harmony is bouncing around in front of the new neighbor. Darting into some shadows he’s glad he wasn’t spotted. He carefully watches Shepard petting and fooling around with Harmony then Harmony starts to growl. He freaks out for a second, but manages to keep his cool as he sprints back around his house and shouts out.

“Harmony! Here girl!” Before long the canine comes sprinting up and tackles him. Cheerful laugher takes the silence away as Harmony licks his face. “Easy, girl. Easy. Now tell me.” He sits up and pushes her muzzle back and scans the area for anyone. “Tell me who that cute guy was.” He grins and Harmony barks and zips back and forth.

~/~

Everyone is eating at the small island that everyone can sit at in the kitchen. The dining room looked too big for everyone for four people. There is some conversation, but it’s mainly about move and placing things.

“So… later can we head out?”

“Head out?” Anderson looks at Jax with question, but also knows where this conversation is going. Jax only has asked once to ‘go out’ as far as to David’s knowledge at least. He returned ten minutes later with an ice cream cone, bag full of sweets, and mass effect miniaturized cores.

“To look around town and stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“I don’t know what to look for.”

“Very well, but be home before seven. Shepard, are you going too?” Shep pauses for a second, but nods. The two get up, wash their dishes, and get ready to head out.

~/~

Jax stands outside and lifts the back car open. He searches around for a bit, but manages to find a small box. It’s bigger than a young adult’s hand, but is somewhat light. He carefully places it down onto the ground and opens his Omni tool. With a few swipes of his finger he activates the box, which transforms into a hover bike. A large visible mass core is in the middle right under the seat. Shepard comes out and smirks at the invention.

“Isn’t that a work in progress?”

“Let’s call this a field test.” Shepard pulls out a metal pad that is decorated with neon red lights and a circle in the middle. He presses the center and the pad extends into a hover board. On the bottom there are two mini cores to keep it afloat. Shepard gets on it and the board automatically locks his feet on. This will keep him from falling off. It also shifts around a little for mobility.

Shepard takes off first and follows his Omni’s GPS. They’re technically in North Vancouver, but it merged with the original Vancouver long ago so they’re heading out of the neighborhood to go to where more of the stores and business are. Jax starts up the biker, but it shuts off immediately.

“Argh! Again?” He quickly gets off and fiddles with the core. Even though it’s practically a bigger version then the cores in Shepard’s board it still proves difficult to work with.

Jax is a tinker and inventor. He fiddles around with scrap metal and Element Zero, also known as Eezo. Shepard’s board is based off the design from an X3M. However it was modified to make the board stay close to the ground and not send anyone standing on into Earth’s troposphere. Or just space overall. He is also responsible for other inventions including the Omni-blade and other variations. He was only nine when his idea was officially used in military purposes.

Jax’s instincts have become acute over the years of harsh public treatment and he knows when he’s being watched. He turns around for a split second, but doesn’t see anyone. This causes him to be more alert and listen closely for any movement. Cold wind mainly brushes into his ears until he hears a few footsteps and a bush moving slightly. Whoever it was the person is fast and sneaky. Jax ignores it just guessing it’s a neighbor’s kid just looking at the new neighbors and starts up his bike again. Once it’s ready he speeds off to catch up to Shepard.

~/~

“You could have waited for me.” Jax finally catches up with Shepard by following the same directions he used. They mainly stop at an area where sky cars pass by overhead and on the ground. Stores of all variations are open. The two of them put their source of transportation away and start to walk.

“I knew you would find me. Also I’ve been meaning to ask you. How are you able to carry that hover bike around and shrink it down? It has to weight a ton and I don’t even know about the core.”

“It’s complicated. Just know it’s not filled with junk and the core is the main source. When it shrinks down it keeps the Eezo in a sort of _hibernation_ phase. Experimental, but it has worked so far. Also it’s made of titanium.”

“That’s still heavy, right? Also what do you mean experimental? What if it leaks or something?”

“Well I’m already a biotic right?” Shepard sighs at the reply and drops the conversation. Both walk down the street and look in the windows of the stores that they pass by. A small café comes up and they head in. There are a lot of people inside from adults drinking their coffee and working to teens hanging out at the larger tables. The two take a table by the window and look around. Shepard takes note of some of the high school students while Jax looks around aimlessly.

“I’m getting some food. Want anything?”

“Nah I’m good.”  Shepard walks off and goes to take a spot in line. A few people are in front of him, but it seems today is a slow day. Jax simply watches cars and people pass by. That is until he sees a group of Asari crowding around a human girl and another Asari. From the looks of it they seem to be getting bullied. Some things just never change wherever they go. Jax gets up and heads immediately for them. He completely forgets about Shepard.

“Hey!” Jax shouts out at the group of Asari. As he approaches them he gets a more detailed look at them. Clothes cling to their skin which is gives a bit of an uncomfortable sigh even from an Asari. There are three in total and each one looks both elegant and promiscuous at the same time. One has the Asari’s, the one being bullied, backpack. “Give it back to her!”

The light blue Asari hides behind the human while the others turn their attention to Jax. The trio simply scoffs at me and starts making ignorant remarks.

_“Did you hear that?”_

_“Who does he think he is?”_

_“Just look at his clothes!”_

_“What a shrimp.”_

Jax felt his blood boil and he tried his best to remain calm. He extended his hand outwards and made one simple request.

“Just give me her backpack, and this can all stop right now.” However all negotiable attempts have now failed.

“A pipsqueak can’t make demands. Even if he tries to.” They all throw a biotic blast at Jax which sends him flying. He would have gone right into the café windows if he hadn’t used his Omni blade to hook onto the ground. Really all the did was piss him off. He stood up with his azure blade and cracked his knuckles.

“Try that again. I dare you.” As predicted by Jax the Asari did. Jax has developed a well enough knowledge of bullies to know that if you taunt them to do something they will do it. An Asari throws, but Jax catches it and deflects it back at her with twice amount of force. She falls to the ground and groans along with a few sobs of pain. The two remaining suddenly start running away. They also dropped the backpack. Jax sighs and kneels down to give the backpack to the girls. “Here you go.”

“I had it under control.” The human instantly speaks with an agitated tone. The light blue Asari is still hiding behind her.

“My name is Jax. I just wanted to help out because I hate bullies! What is your name?” Jax speaks in an obnoxious tone with a wide smile, but instantly stops and wipes away the grin. “Listen, you don’t want my help. Fine. I’m going then.” Jax turns around to head back to the café, but is stopped.

“Fine! I guess I did need some help.”

“And I’m happy I was able to do something. May we start over?”

“Ashley Williams.”

“Jax Shepard.”

“So Jax, it seems like you’ve been in more than a couple fights.” She makes a clear remark to Jax’s black eye. Though he thinks nothing of it.

“Mostly get the other end of the stick. My brother, however, is what people should really watch out for.”

“Is he the guy watching everything over there with coffee?” Jax turns around and sees Shepard leaving again the wall and doing as Ashley described.

“Yup… that’s him.”

~/~

All of them gather in the small Café. Already people have started talking about the fight and it was spreading like wild fire. There was even a video.

“Kahlee is _so_ going to kill me.” Jax shakes his head as he sees the video boom on the extranet. How a simply stand up against bullies video got so popular is beyond him.

“Not really. You did stick up these two.” Shepard is lounging and has a small smirk on his face. Jax looks at him with a bit of a baffled look and speaks.

“Are you… smirking?”

“No. Anyway what were your names again?” Shepard looks directly at the two girls. Ashley crosses her arms and the light blue Asari simply reorganizes her papers and books.

“I’m Ashley Williams. This is Liara T’soni.”

“Don’t get me wrong, but it’s unusual for Asari to bully their own.”

“Not when it’s a purebred.” Liara speaks up, but immediately goes back to being quiet. Jax goes in for his attempt to be friendly.

“Hold on!” Everyone freezes and looks straight at him. Jax extends his arm and points down at a book on the table from Liara’s backpack. “Is that one of the few copies detailing all known knowledge of the Protheans?” Shepard and Ashley look at the book, but are confused since it is in a language they have never seen before.

“Why… yes! I wouldn’t expect anyone to recognize it since the title is in Prothean. It’s one of the few words that the galaxy has been able to translate.”

“There are many theories surrounding the Protheans, but I personally believe the ‘Reaper’ theory.”

“Oh not this again!” Shepard groans and shakes his head.

“What? I’m just saying it’s a theory.”

“I’ve heard of that before. A race of sentient machines called Reapers?”

“Yup, but the origin of it is strange. No one really knows how it started. Unlike all the others that started with a scientist this one just sprang up out of nowhere.” The two go back and forth exchanges comments, theories, and facts about Protheans. Soon Ashley and Shepard get bored and leave without telling them, but they hardly notice. They joke about how the two are _perfect_ for each other, but doubt they’ll actually ever date. Soon they end up wondering the streets in silence with boredom looming over them.

“So, Shepard, what is your first name?”

“Not happening. I’m not giving out my name on a silver platter. Even Jax has trouble remembering it.”

“Then mind me asking why only have the last name?”

“Because I got sick of my first.”

“You really are difficult.”

“I know.”

“Ugh! You’re worse than my friend Alenko!”

“Who?”

“My friend from Normandy Street.”

“Hm… house number?”

“D25. Why?”

“He’s my neighbor.”

“Oh well you might be in a surprises for the time you stay here.”

“Like Harmony?”

“Ya… how…?”

“She practically tackled me this morning. I don’t mind, but I didn’t see anyone.”

“Shy as always. You’ll meet him soon. If not directly then Harmony or Shadow will make sure of it.” Ashley ponders a thought before having a wide grin on her face. She swipes it away immediately as she plans to talk to Liara plus someone else.

~/~

Jax and Liara noticed it was getting late. Liara slightly started to panic because she was going to be home late, though says something about her mother might forgiving her. Elsewhere Shep and Ash continue their walk, but started heading home. Ashley got a call from her sister telling her to get home. Both Shepards offered a ride.

Liara was hesitant at first. Mostly because she didn’t know where Jax’s car was. When Jax held out his bike cube Liara thought he lost it. Until he activated it outside so it turning into its bike form. She studies it for a few seconds and makes a remark about a Quarian friend would go crazy over this. Liara managed to work up the courage and get on the bike with Jax.

When Shepard showed Ashley the hover board she was slightly unimpressed. Clearly stating, ‘If this is his way of picking up a girl he has a long way to go.’ So she decided to challenge him. The challenge was for him to get him home in less than 10 minutes, despite the ride being about 30 minutes by car. Shepard accepted.

Jax dropped Liara off by Normandy St. She states that it’s only a two minute walk from there. With a friendly wave they part ways and Jax cruises for the rest of the way home. Shepard’s and Ashley’s ride was completely different. Shepard won the challenge with a few seconds to spare. Ashley felt both adrenaline and defeat, but decided it was worth it.

“I win.”

“We didn’t bet anything.”

“Still. A win is a win.”

“Ya whatever, skipper.”

“Skipper?”

“Congratulations. That’s your new nickname.” She opens her front door and is immediately hugged by one of her sisters. Two other look from the doorway towards Shepard. He gets the cue and makes a U-turn on towards home. However he hears, ‘He’s cute.’ From one of the girls. To which Ashley makes an annoyed groan.


	2. Chapter 2

Situations All Around

Shepard and I knew it was only a matter of time until Kahlee and Anderson saw the video. However, we didn’t except them to find out almost immediately. Things tend to go against us and media seems to be one of them. Other times it’s just gossip that spreads like wildfires that parents hear and makes its way to our parents. Really we have the worst of luck, but we know how to turn it around to our advantage. Most of the time.

~/~

Jax and Shepard arrived home just in time for dinner. They were unaware at the time of the viral video of Jax getting in a fight. Dinner was quiet, as always, and the boys went to sleep and Anderson and Kahlee did their usual work for the Alliance. Though Jax was up late trying to tinker with another invention of his. Shepard is in the room connected to his, which is separated by a bathroom.

He wipes his eyes in exhaustion, but continues to work. Insomnia seems to be getting the better of him this night. Finally satisfied with his results he holds up a small cube. It is completely holographic, but responds to physical contact without the need for any special equipment. While people do use holograms without equipment it’s mainly due to implanted tech in their fingers through surgery. This however, is an entirely new mechanic.

Jax’s fingers glide over the cube as he picks it up. Tossing it down it shapes into a ball and bounces back up to Jax. Back into his hand he taps to top to bring up a screen. Similarly like his modified Omni tool. Right now the cube is grey, completely void of color, yet it leaves ripples whenever touched. The screen shows the time before flashing away.

“Now if only I can sleep.”

_“Insomnia again?”_ The young biotic turns around with his Omni blade equipped. It lowers as he sees a familiar face, but shakes his head to get things out of his head. A mirror of himself sits on his bed. Jax has black hair while his double’s is white. His eyes are also red. The biotic sighs and speaks coldly.

“Go away Harbinger.”

_“Why? I’m the one who calls your thoughts. We can go as far as saying I’m the Sovereign of your sanity.”_

“Then I am Insane. Thanks for clearing that up! Now shut up and leave me alone.”

_“Fine, but you can’t get rid of me so easily.”_ Harbinger laughs at Jax, but all he does is show nothing but scorn towards him. Harbinger doesn’t take it offensively. Instead he just smiles and continues to lounge on Jax’s bed.

“Get off. I want to go to sleep.” Jax turns on his heel and gently tosses the cube onto his desk. It tumbles a bit and stops, but transforms into a pyramid. This was slightly odd considering how it’s recently been acting and causes him to raise an eyebrow. He swiftly turns again only to find Harbinger is gone. “Finally…” Jax moves over to his bed and falls onto it, hugging the pillow and shifting around on the covers.

~/~

Sunday morning came around. Jax woke up first at around seven thirty in the morning. This gave him only about three hours of sleep. He simply continued working on a few projects until someone else woke up. However, everyone was sleeping in today and the doorbell rang around ten.

“Hello?” He opens the door slightly and is alarmed by the sight. Grey hair and Alliance blues with a familiar face. Instantly he opens it wide and lunges out into a hug. The man chuckles as Jax hugs him. “Hackett! You’re here!”

“Well of course. Who did you think owns this house?”

“Wait… you own _this_ house? That’d explain why it was neatly furnished when we got here.”

“It was also supposed to be locked and you and your family weren’t supposed to be here until this afternoon.”

“Dad went through the driver overnight and I hacked the door open.”

“I’m not sure if I should be suspicious or proud of that.”

“Ok fine. I raided the pantry of cookies. You know. Biotic metabolism makes me a bottomless pit at my age.” Hackett smiles and picks up a grocery bag that was hidden from Jax’s field of view. The contents inside made his stomach growl as he saw chocolate chips and cookie dough ice cream. That spelled heaven for him.

~/~

Hackett mainly talked with Jax until everyone else woke up. They caught up on recent actives like school based performance and Alliance missions. Then came the question.

“Jax, how’d you get that black eye?” He sighed at first, but managed to tell the depressing tale in a shorter version.

“I was on my way home when these older kids came around. They made fun of me for no reason…”

_“Liar…”_ Harbinger spoke suddenly. He had his head right next to Jax’s which made him slightly agitated.

“… and started tailing me. I ignored them…”

_“Liar…”_

“… but soon they took bulling to the next level. I was supposed to be a punching bag, but I bit one of them when he grabbed me…”

_“Partially my fault, but go on.”_

“… that’s when they starting beating me up. They took my credit chit so technically I was mugged. When I got home Shepard quickly found out and tracked the guys down. I’m sure you can guess the rest.”

_“You should have let me taken them. That’d be fun.”_ Harbinger kept a firm grip on Jax’s shoulder. It’s not visible to Hackett, but he feels it as if Harbinger was real.

“Well I hope for the best now that you’re out of America and in Canada. It’s very peaceful here. I don’t think you’ll get in any fights.” Harbinger instantly bursted into laughter. He even fell over onto the couch and landed on the ground. Jax shifted a little to seem like he’s leaning in, but in from his view he has a foot on Harbinger’s face. Slowly, but surely, trying to squish him out of existence.

“Hackett, listen. I’ve…” Footsteps start coming down from above. Kahlee and Anderson both come down at the same time. They’re everywhere together and are practically inseparable.

“Anderson! Sanders! Pleasant morning to the both of you!”

“Steve?” Anderson yawns and stretches. “What are you doing here?” A very blunt way to get to the point. Not even going to say ‘Hello, how are you?’.

“I should be asking you the same question.”

“Oh right.”

“Told you we should have stayed at a motel.” The three of them start to move towards the kitchen and talk at the same time. The conversation casually moves from Alliance work to the house, but stops at mail.

“What the… Why am I getting so much junk about this viral vid?” Anderson speaks first followed by Kahlee as she opens up her Omni tool.

“I have some too.”

“What’s it about?” Hackett speaks out of curiosity and then Kahlee speaks the dreaded words.

“Biotic vs. Bullies. It’s something about how a human biotic stuck up for victims of bulling from a group of Asari bullies or something.”

_“You’re in deep. You know you’re not getting out of this, right?”_

_“Shut up, Harbinger!”_ Jax hisses the words to his invisible _friend._ Harbinger simple lounges on the couch and plays around with an odd ship. _“Where’d you get that?”_

_“I made it. I get bored being in your head sometimes.”_

_“How did you… Actually nevermind. It’ll just give me a headache.”_ He turns his attention back to the adults when the beginning of the video starts to play. Within a minute the sound stops and they all turn towards Jax.

“I can explain.”

“Jax, over here. Now.” He groaned slightly, but did as his parents commanded. He had his head down and didn’t look at them. “Why are you fighting those three Asari?”

“Because they were bullying others! What was I suppose to do? Standby while others have to endure the same stuff?” Everyone flinched at the sudden snap, but Anderson just kneeled down and put his hand on Jax’s shoulder.

“I understand. I think it’s good that you stood up for others. Just you can’t use your biotics.”

“Technically I was forced into doing it since they threw force at me which most likely would have thrown me into the café behind me if I didn’t react in time.”

“Fair enough, but you know the rules about _your_ biotics.” Jax sighed and nodded. Jax would what most people call an anomaly of his generation. Not only is he extremely intelligent he also carries a secret that Anderson, Sanders, and Hackett plan on keeping private. Jax is a young biotic who not only is very powerful, but unstable and no implant can change that. Jax’s biotics react mainly to emotion rather than performance. Changing colors at a moment’s notice and even flaring out suddenly. It has worked up to the point of Jax being fifteen to keep it a secret. However, now he’s a teenage going through changes and they don’t know how much longer it’ll be until something happens.

_“You’ve got to wonder, Jax, is it a greater evil they’re hiding you from or is it actually the Alliance? Remember that in all histories of government there is always corruption.”_ Harbinger brands the idea into Jax’s head. He’s used to this though and brushes it off quickly considering there are people he trusts and cares about. However, there is that lingering doubt.

“Jax? Is something wrong?” Kahlee speaks up now. She goes towards him and gives him perfect eye contact. “You seem a little spaced out.”

“Just thinking of something. I know I can’t use my biotics and that I’m different, but…”

“But…?”

“When am I actually going to learn? To control it? Who knows I may even to have to color be purple and not hide it.” She looks at David and Steve, but the two are hesitant and stall any response. Jax notices and calls back on his question. “Nevermind. It can wait.”

_“See what I’m telling you? Hiding you from something, but do you know what it is?”_ Jax quickly ends any part he has in the conversation by saying he’s going to go upstairs and work on a few projects. Before anything he heads to the pantry right next to him and opens it to grab a snack. _“A snack? Got the munchies?”_

_“I should murder you one day.”_ The whisper is nearly inaudible, but Harbinger still hears it. Probably because he’s in Jax’s head. Literally.

_“Then who’d keep you company? That last AI?”_

_“Complete mistake. Never doing anything like that again.”_

_“But yet you have me. People really do learn from their mistakes, but only from the penalties the second time.”_ Jax gives a glare towards him and closes the pantry. He then goes upstairs to his room. Like always Harbinger is there first and on his bed. _“So what are you doing today? More working on that weird cube… triangle… ball thing? Or maybe the Omni-bow? More upgrades to the bike? Improve social life?”_

“Shut up so I can listen.” Jax puts his comm. into his ear and starts to activate his omni tool. A view of the pantry is shown and voices can be heard. Both hands on the left and right screen for the camera to start moving. He twists his wrists and soon the audio is heard perfectly.

_“Ah… the spider cam.”_ Another invention by Jax. He made it a long time back with a view scraps and used it to spy on Shepard when he used to leave in the middle of the night. In fact this might be his oldest invention that he not only still has, but improved it dramatically.

The conversation is slow to start, but then changes when Anderson brings up a fear. A fear of what will happen to Jax. He reflects back onto a past mission where he failed and a young girl was kidnapped. The people who did the kidnapping were abducting biotic children and then disappearing entirely. Anderson was the girl’s last hope and he failed. His fear was that Jax would get abducted and the same people would do whatever they did to the children, but since Jax is special it could be better or worse.

He then went on about the leads on the organization. A symbol, an enigmatic leader, an origin, and worst of all a goal. Everything was just speculation and rumors, but it led to how the organization was originally Alliance, but broke off after the First Contact War. Then a leader by the name of the illusive man rose to power, but kept the organization a secret until recent activity. The symbol was still a mystery, but the goal wasn’t. They only abducted _human_ biotics. Humans. They either wanted to make a type of super soldier or another form of human evolution. However, it was all thrown away in some data folder as the search went cold. This was only a few years before the Shepards were adopted.

After listening through the whole conversation Jax grew depressed. He knew Anderson cared about him and Shepard, but what would have happened if he was taken as well? The questions grew and grew, but it was Harbinger who snapped.

_“It didn’t happen so stop it. Whoever these people think they are they’re just pawns. This is obviously the tip of the iceberg so don’t start drowning yourself in sorrow about something at didn’t happen.”_

“It’s just…”

“It’s just what?” Shepard leaned in from the bathroom. Shirtless, but wearing pajama pants with ‘N7’ designed all over it. A toothbrush was also in his mouth which made him sound odd.

“Talking to myself. I don’t know which project to work on.” Jax closes the screens casually to avoid suspicion.

“Do the bow. I really want to see that in action.”

“Which ammos should I make? Warp, Cyro, Shredder, or Incendiary?”

“All. One is not enough and two will just get boring.” Shepard goes back into the bathroom to continue brushing his teeth. Jax rolls his eyes at his brother. Somehow the Canadian atmosphere seems to be affecting him. Positively at least.

~/~

“Kaidan! Come down here please!” Alenko was in his room at the time when he heard his mother call him down. He stood up from his desk and began walking down the stairs to her. He was surprised when he saw his father in his Navy Blues and suitcases around his mother.

“What’s going on?”

“Your father and I are going to be away from some time.”

“I’m returning to the Alliance for a short time while.”

“I have work over in New York. This means you’ll be all alone for awhile.” Kaidan simply nods and the two then go out to their cars to depart. Kaidan watches from a window as his parents leave him behind, though he feels nothing as he didn’t feel close enough to them for him to miss them.

Kaidan knew how to cook and take care of himself, but in the large house it made him feel small. He began getting bored of making lunch manually so he decided to use his biotics. Soon a sandwich was made with little effort, but the meal didn’t last long. As a last resort, even though it’s only been thirty minutes, he takes out his Omni tool and started dialing a number.

“Hey…”

_“K! Where the hell have you been?”_

“Huh? Ash, what are you -”

_“I’ve been trying to call you since yesterday!”_ Kaidan looks at his call history and notices five missed call. All by Ashley.

“Sorry. Guess I got distracted.”

_“Damn it, K, you got to relax. Which reminds me, you know those new neighbors? The Shepards?”_

“The Shepards? That’s what their called?”

_“Well the guys anyway. They’re adopted.”_ Ashley then begins to tell her story about fighting three of the Eclipse members until Jax Shepard showed up and scared them off. She also told him about his time with Shepard alone, who is now called skipper for her. Kaidan didn’t interrupt once and listened patiently.

“So… he’s interested in you?”

_“Doubt it. He seemed friendly, but something was off. Also they’re hiding something, but I don’t know what.”_

“Don’t you think that’s… a little invasive?”

_“I’m not going to go scavenging through their garbage. Just saying. Oh wait you called about something?”_ Kaidan looks around in the empty house as Ashley’s voice echoes from his Omni tool. Shadow, an Alaskan husky, approaches him as he investigates the odd sound. Ashley is even able to her the echo from her end. _“Your parents left again?”_

“Ya…”

_“I’ll be over in ten with movies and friends.”_ Ashley quickly hung up and from her words it cheered Kaidan up a little, but still felt depressed like he was separated from his family. Almost like they had sent him off into space or something.

~/~

“Maybe if I…” Jax twists his cube device into an hour glass form. He shapes the once cube into other shapes until it is soon a deformed polygon. He just looks at it and ends up throwing it back onto his desk, to which it forms back into a square. “What did I even create?!” The words are louder than they should, but no one bothers investigating. Mostly because Jax is all alone at home now. Everyone went to the Alliance HQ and Shepard decided to tag along since he’s heavily deciding to join the Alliance.

_“Play dough? Silly putty?”_ Once again Harbinger is around, but this time he’s also fiddling with something. In truth currently that is the closest example of what Jax’s invention is.

“I will hit… where did you get that?” It’s the thing that Harbinger had a little while ago. He’s fiddling with it again.

_“Oh this thing? Take a look. I told you I made it didn’t I?”_ He tosses Jax the small metallic statue. It is smooth with orange glowing eyes.

“Where did you… how did you make this?”

_“Well…”_

“Nevermind, but why a metal Cthulhu?”

_“Reasons. Though I’ve been thinking of what to call it. What do you think of ‘Narzara’?”_

“Isn’t that old Turkish for ‘The one who sees or observes’?”

_“Well someone has been keeping up in their history.”_

“You apparently are to. Now go away.” Jax tosses back the Cthulhu model and returns back to his mysterious invention. Before long he gives up and heads outside to work on his hover biker. Harbinger stays on Jax’s bed and decides to leave Jax be, for now at least. That usually means a minimum from ten to twenty minutes.

~/~

Kaidan paces around in the living room. He hates being alone. Especially in his giant house of his. He took out a few movies that were never watched and snacks from the pantry. Last time his parents were gone for two months. They didn’t say how long they were going to be gone for this time, however.

Relief came when the doorbell rang. He quickly looked out a window and saw Liara arrived first. The door opened and she was delighted to see Kaidan after sometime.

“Hello, Kaidan, may I come in?”

“Ya. Sure.” Liara enters with her usual lab like outfit and hands intertwined with each other. Kaidan motions towards the living room and she goes there with him. “We haven’t talked much.”

“Sorry, I’ve been busy.”

“I understand. Ashley told me about something that was troubling you?”

“Well my parents left again. It’s very quiet in here. I don’t like being alone.”

“Yes, my mother also left recently leaving me all alone.” The social atmosphere was a bit depression, but it quickly changed when the door just swung open.

“K, I’m here!” Ashley barges in with someone behind her. She is about the height of Jax and covered in purple.

“You sure you can just do that?” She has a unique accent with a mask that covers her face. An airlock suit goes around her body from head to toe.

“Hi, Ashley. Hey, Tali.” Kaidan speaks up and Ash quickly goes over to give a friendly punch to his shoulder. He rubs it and feels a bruise starting to form. Tali gives him a quick hug before backing out. There they are all four of them in a social circle, but there’s no talking.

“So whatcha wanna do? We can go out.” Ashley speaks up to break the silence. She was getting annoyed of how quiet everyone is.

“After our last trip of ‘going out’ we ran into the Eclipse sisters I’d prefer to stay inside.”

“You can’t stay in a cramped room studying Prothean books forever, Liara.”

“It is much easier than you think.”

“You can live for a thousand years, but you gotta do something with that time.” Liara and Ash start a little showdown of what to do and what not to do. Tali and Kaidan watch back and forth as friendly insults and thrown along with witty comebacks.

“Guys? How about a movie?” Tali speaks up after catching a glimpse of the stack of movies piled neatly in the glass cabinet under the TV.

“Sure, let me get them out so we can pick one.” Kaidan hurries over before either of them can object. He takes out a large chunk of the movies and places them on the coffee table.

“Kaidan…” The girls speak all at the same time to get his attention. Ashley then speaks up first.

 “After last time we talked about, well, _you._ ” Liara begins to speak.

“You tend to isolate yourself and not expand out to meet others.” Finally Tali begins to say her part.

“We think you should try to make more friends.”

“Liara, Tali, and I aren’t trying to push you away, but you can’t rely on us forever.”

“Guys, what are you talking about? I have other friends.”

“Name them.” They all speak at the same time, which causes Kaidan to flinch. He pauses for a second before mentioning Jenkins, but remembers that his family left for Eden Prime. There was also Ranha, however he forgets that she also moved away. He then had trouble recalling a few other people’s names and soon gave in.

“Fine. I get what you all are talking about, but it’s not easy for me. Especially for L2s like me.”

“You’ll do fine.” Kaidan picks up the movies again and places them back. He also gets a coat and heads outside with everyone, though Liara seems a little nervous. He quietly whispers to himself that everything will be alright.

“Oh wait! I got an idea!” Ashley suddenly runs over next door and Liara also seems to understand the same idea. Ash rings the door bell, but there isn’t an answer. Instead an explosion is heard from the garage. The door then slides open with smoke coming out. Unknown to them Harbinger is standing in front of them and examining them closely while Jax coughs and wheezes while coming out. He also throws a few swears in several different languages.

_“I told you not to do that, but no. You do it anyway.”_

“Shut up, Harbinger!”

“Jax?” Liara speak to get his attention. He looks to the side and sees them.

_“By the way you have company.”_ Jax makes a mental note to murder him. He wipes smoke and whatever else is clinging to his face off and approaches them.

“Hey Liara, Ashley, and people whose names I don’t know.”

“This is Kaidan Alenko and Tali’Zorah.” He waves to them instead of shaking hands. He also tries to wipe his face again, but instead makes a black mark across his face. No one laughs at him and just stares.

“What are you doing in there?” Tali asks out of pure curiosity. Jax gives the hand for a second and runs back inside. He comes out with a metallic cube in hand. He throws it down the driveway. He activates his Omni tool, which catches Tali’s eye since it’s modified, and the cube turns into the hover bike with a few differences.

“I’m trying to make it perform better and be less prone to break down. Easier said than done.”

“Well that was a lot simpler then I thought.”

“I could have gone into excruciating detail, but I think that’ll just bore you all.”

“I’d like to know more.” Tali was staring at the bike and Jax’s modified equipment. He was acquainted with a Quarian once who helped him make some prototype tech schematics, but ended up ruining it since apparently Jax was a better mechanic then him. Or at least that’s what the Quarian was complaining about while destroying the schematics. Jax knows that not everyone is the same, but he knows to be cautious about people to take an interest in his stuff.

“Maybe, but anyway did you guys need something?”

“Well we were heading back into town. Thought you’d like to tag along.” Ashley speaks cheerfully while keeping Kaidan close in case he tries to escape.

“Sure. Sounds like fun.” They start to walk away, but Jax suddenly remembers something. He quickly runs inside the garage and grabs something and closes the door shut. They all then continue walking.

~/~

It wasn’t fun, or in the beginning of it the hanging out wasn’t working. I’ll be honest they’re all nice an all, but the timing was by far the worst I have ever experienced. It was cold out and then it started to rain. So it was cold, wet, and humid. A very unpleasant feeling. We all got into town via transit, but mainly stayed in the same café where I first met Liara and Ash. On the side note it turns out it is actually called Zakera Café.

We mainly sat there the whole time eating and drinking coffee. We really didn’t know what to do with the weather or where to go. That is until a few school sport jocks came in and we over heard the conversation. Not saying that I purposely eavesdrop on people. It just so happened there was an interesting topic. That and you can hear them across the whole room.

~/~

“The champ is back! Ya!” Jax turns around to see around to see a large football player, who is soaking wet from the rain and in uniform, step into the café with a broad grin on his face. Another football player shakes his head, but still follows behind the first. Two others also follow behind the second jock and talk to each other to ignore the loud brute.

“You’re never going to beat him. He broke the scoreboard twice.” The calm jock speaks quietly. Jax is barely able to hear him.

“Just watch. I’ll beat him in no time even if I have to use my bare hands!”

“You know he did do that… never mind.”

“Who knows maybe you’ll bring home the _prize_.” He snickers for a second while the other guy just narrows his eyes. “Hey, Esteban! What are you doing? Talking or something?”

“No, Mr. Vega, I’m just standing here listening to you speak.”

“Well you heard me! Just get over here an order something then just making out.” Esteban rolls his eyes and goes away from his friend. He waves goodbye to him and leaves without notifying Vega.

“People are loud here. I thought Canada would be a little quieter.”

“Locals are, but can’t say the same about everyone else.”

“Ohh… so you’re Canadian, Kaidan?”

“Yup” The conversation stops right there. Nothing to go off of that or continue so they bother remains quiet. Jax whispers to himself silently while everyone’s mood drop from this weather.

“Alrighty then…”  The conversation then revolved from bits and pieces of current events to social media. Overall everyone got less and less enthusiastic. “Is there some kind of championship or something here? Those guys were talking about a ‘Champ’ returning.”

 “There’s the Armex Arsenal Arena, but really only the ‘hotshots’ go there.” Ashley goes into detail about the arena and how it’s has this mysterious champion who tends to break the scoreboard every time he’s attending. However, his, or her, identity is unknown since the person always wears a mask and goes by ‘Blitz’. When all details are said she quiets down again and starts to fiddle with her drink.

“I got it! How about we go there?” Everyone is surprised by Jax’s sudden spring of energy. Nobody objects so he then calls a transit to pick them up. While they waited for it to arrive the three loud guys from before come out. The weather had dimmed down and now left a moist cold feeling to linger in the air. This was an even more unpleasant feeling.

“Hey, Alenko!” The guy named Esteban spoke up as the door opened. Kaidan turned around and gave a slight wave. “Didn’t know you were here. Why didn’t you speak up?”

“Rainy day calls for rainy mood, Cortez.”

“Well at least you’re out. The weather is supposed to get a little better later.” Kaidan shrugs and tries to end to conversation there, but Ashley doesn’t allow it.

“So Steve, where ya heading?”

“We’re going back to the arena. Mainly just stopped here to get a little bit to drink and eat.” The door opened again and Vega stepped out with a coffee and box of doughnuts. One was already in his mouth. Muffled sounds came out when he tried to speak.

“We’re heading there as well. Carpool?”

“Sure.” The car arrives, but from the size of it Jax guesses it could only fit three or four people, not including the driver. He sighs and speaks up.

“We’re going to need a bigger car.”


	3. Chapter 3

Front Seat Brawl

Fingers glide along holographic screens. The room is dark and a masked man sits alone. Behind the dark reflective mask are eyes that dart back and forth. Looking and scavenging through all the data in attempt to find his goal. He brings up a live vid along with a few profiles. The Anderson-Sanders family. Alliance parents with two adopted kids, both of whom have a sketchy history along with hidden information. No average security would be able to notice it, but he’s not average security. Within a minute he hacks into the information and a gigantic list appears.

“Jax Shepard, known for a military tech inventor, has a history of being bullied. Typical from these generations. There are also some details that suggest he is a biotic, but it isn’t confirmed.” He looks threw the information and becomes more and more interested. He is responsible for the common military Omni-blade and other designs. A teen girl approaches beside him. She wears a dark crimson dress. Under it is some body armor fashioned to look like fashionable clothes that also come complete with gloves.

“He’s a biotic. There is a video that shows him standing up to the Eclipse Sisters.”

“Yes, I know. I’m curious of why him being a biotic is kept hidden.”

“I’ll poke around a bring up anything I can, if you wish.”

“Do it. If anything he’s going to be a candidate of the possible kidnap victims. We can’t allow that to happen.”

“How many have there been?” The guy pauses for a second. He instinctively goes to bite his nail, but his mask prevents it. At least it is a good way to stop a bad habit. His hand swipes away the screen and another list appears, but this one is of names.

“47 Kidnaps within the last three years. Overall 113 known kidnappings. Most of these are just kids who run away and are never heard of again. We can’t let anyone else be taken.”

“Does…”

“She knows.”

“I didn’t think you would tell her about this.”

“I didn’t. She told me.” The guy steps up and faces her. They both look at each other for a second before nodding. They’re scouting for someone today. They plan on baiting him out first, whether it be him or someone else. He will show.

~/~

In front of the Armex Arena the group has finally gathered. Jax arrived by using Shepard’s hover board and carried Tali and Liara. It was odd, but thankfully Jax did add an extend feature to the board. It was a nice ride over all. The wind gave a nice cool touch and Tali strung up a conversation about the board. Jax decided to open up and tell her about how it was small mass effect cores that he developed.

However Kaidan and Ashley’s ride was a little less unpleasant. James had to sit in the passenger seat while Robert, Steve, Ashley, and Kaidan were in the back. To make room Steve ended up sitting on Robert’s lap and Kaidan felt like he was sucking in his gut, but it didn’t do anything since he didn’t take up that much space. Ashley made a joke about how Steve and Robert make a cute couple since they’re so comfortable with each other. Kaidan rolled his eyes and tried squeezing himself a little more into the corner.

“Have a nice ride?” Liara spoke to Ashley first. She shrugged and so Liara looked to Kaidan for a proper answer, but he just sighed. Though Steve and Robert seemed fine with the ride. James was bored. After that James and his gang left into the arena’s locker room. Jax’s group remained above to watch the matches.

“Anybody want anything to eat?” They all say no at the same time. “What about to drink?” Once again everyone says no. Jax feels a little bit distant from everything. He’s trying his best to be friendly since he’s never really had friends. Asking and offering didn’t seem to work so he’s going with a different tactic now. In a split second he grabs Kaidan and drags him a few feet away from the girls. “I’m hungry. Come on!”

“I… wait… what?” Kaidan is confused by everything and surprised to find out that Jax is a lot stronger then he appears, but doesn’t resist and retreat back to Ash and the others. He hears them snickering about how silly the two of them looks. When they’re near the food stand Kaidan stands for a few seconds while Jax looks at the menu before leaving.

“K, you sure you don’t want anything?” Stopped dead in his tracks he ends up turning around. Kaidan is split into two minds. Try and be friendly and get out of his comfort zone or remain a loner and go to Ash. Kaidan makes his decision quickly and somewhat hesitantly.

“I uh… just whatever is chocolate is fine.” Jax nods and goes up to order. In a minute he comes back with two cups of chocolate ice cream along with a chocolate bar.

“Ice cream or the bar? You choose.”

“Um… ice cream.” Once Kaidan takes a cup from Jax the two head back to the girls. Since it’s a little quieter, because the next match is prepping, he decides to ask Kaidan a few questions. Or at least try to connect with him more.

“You don’t really socialize much, do you?”

“Not really.”

“I understand. I tend to be quiet a little more then I should.”

“From everything I’ve seen I’d have thought you are the loudest person around.”

“Ha. No. That’d be my brother. Truth be told I’m not usually like this. I just stay inside tinkering with tech until…”

“… You don’t feel the need of others. Right?”

“Ya. Guess breaking out of my shell is a little different than I thought of what it’d be.”

“It’s not easy, but at least we have Ash to break it open for us.”

“If she doesn’t bring out a sledgehammer first.”

“Or a rifle!” The two started laughing and joking around. It mainly consisted of how Ashley and Shepard seem to be their complete opposites and that they both seem crazy in their own way. The two of them bond quickly. Whether it be their social awkwardness or how that simply needed someone to talk. Whatever it is they quickly became friends that seem like they knew each other forever.

~/~

As Jax and Kaidan make it back they are actually unaware of the fact they’re being tailed. A guy is following, most likely to be eighteen or nineteen, and keeping a close eye on them and for security. However, his plans are disrupted by a presence he is unknown of. Harbinger.

_“You do know you’re being followed, right?”_ Instantly Jax turns around to see Harbinger. He points with his thumb at the mysterious man. Before Jax can get a good look he ducks into the crowd and disappears without a trace.

“Something wrong?”

“No. Nothing, Kaidan. Just felt a weird breeze pass by me.”

“Huh?”

“I thought something was there.”

“Oh.”

~/~

The man dodges down a few hallways until he’s alone. With no one in sight he puts in his ear comm. to be instantly lectured by the person on the other end.

_“You’re fleeing from the objective.”_

“I almost got spotted. Couldn’t get close enough.”

_“He isn’t going to be happy about this.”_

“Must I remind him of _your_ failure with your last mission?”

_“First of all it was two missions ago. Second, you don’t exactly have a perfect record.”_ A click of a gun is heard. The charging sound rings to give a clear warning that it is ready to be fired. The man stops in place and taps on his ear comm. to get rid of his contact. When he turns around his face fills with rage as he sees the masked man.

“You…”

“Yes, me, anyone else want you dead?” A very low pitched voice comes from the masked man. It is obviously modified to hide his true voice.

“…”

“I’ll take that as a yes. I’m guessing you’re either trying to think of escape routes or ways to kill me. I’ve prepared for both.” The only exits of the hallway they’re in is now secured off by metal doors. This is a defensive mechanism of the building in case of unwanted visitors. “So, Kai Leng, shall we continue our last dance.” Kai Leng grits his teeth as he takes out a concealed blade. Blitz mimics and the two are locked in a sword lock.

“I’ll kill you for everything you’ve done.”

“We’ll have to wait and see.” Metal against metal can be heard. The girl in the crimson dress watches a security camera of the two fighting. She also checks the arena schedule and sees that his match is in about ten minutes. She looks around and spots Alenko and Jax with Ash, Liara, and Tali. With a quick flip of her hair she heads off toward them. Leng and Blitz are still going on with their duel. Soon Kai Leng gets annoyed and uses his biotic powers to get an advantage. Blitz merely mocks him to hide the fact he is unprepared for that.

“Got a new upgrade? No wonder why you’re such a lapdog.” Kai Leng responds by drawing a gun. Blitz ducks into the storage right next to him to hide. Now it is now a game of cat and mouse. The room is not small, but it’s still big enough for Blitz to move around to strategize.

“You’ve been a nuisance for long enough!” Kai Leng yells only to the dark shadows of the room. After a minute an echo occurs that originates from Blitz’s voice.

“I’ve been a _nuisance_? Then I really must not be trying hard enough.” Leng bends down to the ground and concentrates. Blitz is on the ceiling railing and watching. Soon a gigantic biotic shockwave erupts in the room. Boxes and shelves go flying until it’s all cluttered in the corners. Blitz remains untouched in the ceiling. Leng, thinking he’s won, exits the room to make his escape.

“Hey, Miri…”

_“What happened? Security is going crazy up here.”_

“Kai Leng got away. I think I pissed him off.”

_“Why do you say that?”_

“Well I pretty much called him a Cerberus dog then kicked the mutt. That ended up in a biotic shockwave.”

_“Wait, he’s a biotic? Second encounter and already throwing every trick out. Where are you anyway? Your match starts in a few minutes.”_

“In the ceiling railing.”

_“Right…”_

“I’ll be there in as soon as possible.” He drops down from the ceiling with a perfect landing. Security can be heard coming down so he activates a cloak over himself.

“What the hell happened in here?!” Before another guard can come in and be shocked he slips out into the corridor. Within a few seconds he’s back in the crowd, and he’s getting swarmed by fans, so he activates his cloak again to disappear. Kai Leng has left the building and disappeared again. He’ll need to devise a new strategy to take care of him, and doing it alone it’s much of an option now.

~/~

“Excuse me, but is this seat taken?” The girl in crimson approaches Jax and motions towards the seat next to him. Ashley gives her a menacing stare, but she doesn’t mind.

“No. You may take it if you wish.” She gives a slight nod and sits next to him. Jax quickly looks to the side and notices Ashley’s stare along with confused looks from the rest. Well Liara and Kaidan at least. “Mind if I ask for your name?”

“Miranda Lawson, and yours?”

“Jax Shepard.” The two shake hands and resume watching for ending of the match. People are now storming into the building and taking up seats. The Masked Man, Blitz, is a celebrity on his own for his talent with shooting and being a mystery. “Here to watch the champion I take it?”

“Yes. He’s an old friend.”

“So you know him?”

“Yes and no.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know him, but I don’t _know_ him.”

“Ok…”

“Mind if I ask why you are here, Shepard?” Jax stares at her for a few seconds. His brother is the one to go by Shepard, but when he’s called by his last name it gives him a slight pause.

“I’m just seeing the highlights of Vancouver.”

“New here?”

“Moved in a few days ago.” The lights dim as the current match comes to an end. The score flashes on the main screens with people cheering, and some booing. The next event shows with “Blitz vs. Reapers”. Jax notices Harbinger looking closely at the word ‘Reaper’.

_“Odd name for an enemy.”_

_“Probably just some developer thought of it randomly. Like how someone came up with the Grim Reaper.”_  The masked man comes out and everyone starts to cheer. Miranda tenses a small bit as she casually scans the crowd without bringing attention to her. Jax continues his barely audible conversation with Harbinger. Then the first waves of enemies started to appear. Enemies called husks that once haunted Jax’s dreams. Cannibals and Marauders also appeared.

_“You had nightmares with enemies of these names, correct?”_

_“Once, but these look different. Just random molds and forms now. The ones I know were just of others.”_

_“Others?”_

_“You don’t want to know.”_

~/~

Those nightmares used to keep me up almost every night. That was until Harbinger, but he’ll never admit to being the one to stop them. The enemies in the arena simulator compared to my nightmare monsters are completely different in appearance, but the same when it comes to actions. The arena monsters looked like something from a horror movie or game. Like deformed monsters from a cursed ghost town trapped in a giant fog. Hard to describe, but easy to spot.

~/~

The match goes on for quite a bit. There are times when everyone is so quiet that you can hear a pin dropped, which is interrupted by shots and sword slashes. Then everyone is cheering like a maniac. Jax doesn’t cheer one bit. He simply watches Blitz move and takedown every opponent. Everyone is having a great time. They’re talking, cheering, and complaining. Yet, Jax has this unnerving feeling that won’t go away, and Harbinger being around isn’t helping.

“Going somewhere?” Miranda speaks up as soon and he gets up. He is a bit alarmed that she is paying more attention to him then the match.

“Just going to look around.”

“Ok.” Jax squeezes through and starts to head up. Miranda stays put and watches Blitz fight. She has watched him time and time in the arena, but she knows that he chooses a very different technique of fighting to what he generally uses. He uses a rifle and pistol, but rarely his sword. Most of the time he doesn’t bring his sword to the arena. Then there is his mask that he always wears that jabs at her curiosity.

“What exactly are you doing here, Lawson?” Ashley snaps her back into reality. Plans to discover Blitz’s identity is generally on her mind.

“Why I’m watching the match. Isn’t that everyone in the crowd does?” Ash narrows her eyes at her. She looks like she’s about to punch Miranda right in the face, if given the opportunity.

“You’re not the type for guns and shooting.”

“Who’s to say? I might like explosions as well.”

“And I like pretty dresses and make up. We both know you’re full of bullshit.”

“You could use some tips for appeal.” Kaidan moves a few seats over to Liara and Tali. Ash and Miri have gone into a full blown verbal war. Throwing insults and witty comebacks. The problem is that they both seem matched.

“They really hate each other.”

“The Williams and Lawson family have never seen eye to eye. It even passes onto the next generations.” Kaidan gives some clarification, but Liara and Tali seem to be in disbelief.

“I think this is just a teenage thing, Kaidan.”

“Well I’m just stating what’s true.” The argument just ended up from witty comebacks to name calling. Kaidan felt the need of tearing off his head, mainly because he felt embarrassed, while Tali and Liara tried to calm them down. Just when things finally quieted down between them the score buzzed loudly as it displayed the total score. However, once again Blitz caused it to break and glitch. It mainly showed a score of ‘9999’.

“Well looks like that’s that. I should get going.” Ashley doesn’t reply and just sits down with her legs extended. This meant Miranda had to go the long way around so she can exit. She just rolled her eyes and started walking, but stopped when the sound of biotic explosions are heard. In fact everyone turns their attention to the source, which is behind closed door. After two more explosions Jax comes crashing through and rolls down the stairs. He quickly regains his footing as six Asari teenagers come out the door. Despite each one dressing differently they all have the same symbol. The symbol of…

“Eclipse Sisters!” People spoke up and from the excitement of the last match everyone thinks it is a special event. That’s quickly corrected at the guard that tries to apprehend them is thrown into the crowd. Some people scatter and run away while others move and watch from a safe distance. Jax makes a remark about this, but keeps it to himself.

“What do you want with me?”

“You hurt our sisters. We’re merely repaying the debt.”

“I think I’ll pass. How about we call it off, hm? A clean slate?”

“I don’t think so!” The leader practically screams it out while throwing a warp. Jax’s body is trying it’s best to resist its biotics. Anderson’s words are currently lingering in Jax’s ears and he _knows_ it’ll be hell for him if he does something to show it. It’ll also be hell for him if he doesn’t. Before the warp collides with Jax he activates his Omni-tool and aims it right in front of him. He quickly shouts out into it.

“Paladin!” The Omni-tool changes from its usual azure tint to a bright white. From it a shield is conjured at lightning speed and blocks the incoming warp. More follow, but the shield holds and keeps Jax safe. When the Eclipse Sisters become exhausted Jax then charges with his shield in his right hand as well as an Omni-blade in his left. The blade isn’t aimed to kill and will only stun them. He slashes one while shield bashing another. Two go down and start shaking from the effects of the attacks. One Asari bends down to them and screams as more warps come rushing out.

“You bastard!” Another rushes up to Jax and then throws him. He doesn’t go far, but it’s still enough for them to get some breathing room. He collides into the railing yet it doesn’t knock him down completely. Though it seems like he may has a sore back in the morning.

“That’s it…” Jax holds the shield up as he goes through his Omni. After a few seconds the shield disappears and silver bow takes its place. Jax pulls the holographic string back and shoots an arrow at one of the Sisters. It doesn’t pierce her and rather sticks. It also electrocutes her into submission. The second shot backfires and explodes. Some people are confused by the sight, but his friends can hear him cursing and he becomes dazed. The leader comes rushing forward and has pure intention of hurting Jax, or worse. Before her biotic powered fist can collide a hand grabs her, pushes her to the ground, and knocks her out. When Jax isn’t disoriented any longer he is surprised to see the Masked Man has come to his aid.

“T-Thanks.”

“Just focus.” His voice is deep, but Jax easily notes that it is masked. Just like his face, go figure. With four down and only two to go it becomes an even fight. With his Omni back to azure blue he gets ready to continue the fight. However, the rest of the Sisters have a different plan and decide to run away. They flee without a second thought of the others and that’s that.

“Just like that? They talk and act as if they’re sisters then they run and leave them behind. Who are these people?” He looks at Blitz, but gets no response. He simply looks at the unconscious Asari and then to Kaidan and the others. Miranda gives a nod in the distance and starts to leave, but not in the way to the exit.  “You’re not going to say anything, are you?”

“… No.” Jax grows slightly irritated, but lets it go. For him one fight is enough for today. His friends quickly come up to him and ask if he’s fine. To be specific Liara and Kaidan check to see if he is injured while Tali comments on the tech and Ash encouraging Jax for beating Eclipse.

“Guys… can we… go? I don’t like being the center of attention.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oi! Jax!” James’ voice can be heard and Jax tries to make his escape, but is stopped by pain from his back.

“There’s James…” He points to the screens around the arena which show Jax and his friends. “… and then there are those.”

~/~

That’s what happened. Those Eclipse Sister thought of ambushing me at the arena and it didn’t end well for them. They’re fine, but got arrested. Security was probably going to arrest me as well, but for some reason they seemed to have been called to leave me alone. Nothing was asked from me and I was just told to go. Strange right? James was getting ready for his match when I got into my fight. He was impressed at the very least. He also tried buttering up to me to get my Omni-Shield. I flat out rejected him. It was funny because he pretended that he was _heartbroken_.

I could have gotten help form my friend, but this isn’t the bullying where I’m pushed into a corner for my credit chip. This was a full out ‘Shep-has-to-fight-to-protect-me’ fight. On the side note everyone was so occupied with watching that it seemed they forgot to record the fight. The security footage was also tampered with. Guesses are that Eclipse did that so once they were done with me they could get away. Probably because on Earth there is a stereotype that all Asari look the same. So that was my little adventure, but I kind of wondered what Shepard was up to. I mean when I got home at night he still wasn’t home.

~/~

Once again there is the masked man all alone in a room. Miranda comes up to him, but this time in pajamas. She yawns and shields her eyes from the bright screen.

“Go to sleep. It’s Monday tomorrow.”

“I rarely ever sleep.”

“Right… you’re a damn zombie.” He ignores her for a second and rewinds a video. Security footage to be exact. Miranda leans on his chair and stares with one eye slightly closed. “That some kind of new tech?”

“No. Not exactly. See when the bow explodes? If it was purchased it wouldn’t malfunction. This is obviously created by Jax and Jax alone.”

“That Omni-shield, whatever it’s called, seems pretty useful. It even defends pretty well again biotic attacks. Who knows what else he’s made.”

“That makes him a valuable asset.”

“I doubt Cerberus would be able to get Jax to join them. Considering they’re xenophobic and Jax isn’t the chatty type.”

“What did you get from him?”

“Besides that his Omni-tool has a class nine firewall and one mix up would alert him. Then my answer is nothing. So far he’s a smart teen boy with teen needs. He’s also friendly.”

“Alright get some sleep, Miri. You’ll need it for tomorrow.” She nods and turns towards the door. Halfway there she stops and decides to ask the question.

“Hey, B?”

“Hm?”

“When am I going to know you’re real name?”

“… I don’t know...” He turns back to the screen of the footage from the arena.  He rewinds it and fast-forward at key points, but pauses the video on one spot specifically. He leans forward with his hands tangled. It shows Jax ready to release the first shot from his Omni-bow. Blitz studies his expression and continues examining the footage even after Miri leaves.


End file.
